Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Splendida cruise + some Malta info

Beauseant

By Beauseant,
in MSC Cruises

Recommended Posts

jacobichka

jacobichka

Posted
Posted

Hi to All.

Thank you for all of your reviews. I'll be on the Splendida cruise, starting October 2. Can you tell me please, what is the real time for main and late diner seating? I really like late seating, but according MSC web site I think 9:45 is little to late.

 

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beauseant

Beauseant

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi jacobichka,

Am glad that my info here was helpfull to you. You will have a nice cruise that you'll cherish a life-time! :)

 

Dinner:

 

I chose second sitting for my Dinner. Did this to take it more easier and not having to rush to get ready in time for the earlier sitting, plus the 7.00pm sitting was too early for me. Preferred taking things more easily, and also have time for a drink before dinner in one of the nice bars or lounges.

 

First sitting was always at 7.00pm, except when we left Tunis. This was held at 7.30pm. Second sitting was always at 9.30pm, except the Tunis one, this was at 10.00pm.Dinner was always la carte.

 

The menu always had something different for each night. Dinner normally consisted of a six course one (appetizers, soups, pasta/rice, salads, main course: meat/fish/poultry, desert: ice-cream/Gatos/sorbet ...mmmm!). There were also “standard items” available every night, just in case one did not fancy anything in the main menu. These consisted of spaghetti bolognese/skinless chicken/grilled salmon/meat etc.There were also special food items for diabetics and vegetarians too.

 

Another thing; you will not find any cutlery on the table when you sit down. The waiters will bring only those that you need before your plate is put on table.

 

So, relax and enjoy your cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rhea58

Rhea58

Posted
Posted

Beauseant:

 

Apologies for not thanking you sooner in answering my queries.

 

Thanks for giving all your input as there is only 1 other review so far

on this ship & I, too, do alot of research prior to any trip. I went to

the NYC Italy tourist office for info for my time in Rome & was told

not to bother w/the excursion to Mt Etna so I will watch for Stromboli

as you kindly suggested.

 

Looking forward also to seeing Valletta again...perchance do you

work in the city there?

 

Thanks again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beauseant

Beauseant

Posted
  • Author
Posted

It's ok Rhea 58,

 

I only tried to answer and help fellow cruiser's questions about MSC Splendida, plus a little bit of info about Malta (well, as I'm Maltese, that makes me an expert hehee!). I'm not good at writing stories/racconts, so went straight for facts/info which persons here requested. Wish I could say it in the "nice way" others like Minty says things, but guess that everyone has his/her way of saying things.

 

Mount Etna is in Sicily and not mainland Italy (Rome). And distance from Messina to Mt.Etna is around 45/50 miles, but don't know taxi fares for that voyage. MSC Splendida had an Etna excursion though (following is from MSC official site):

 

MES02 - ETNA-4 HRS

Long walking tours

 

We will leave Messina towards Etna, the highest volcano of Europe, going through the town of Nicolosi. Arriving at the “Rifugio Sapienza”, we will visit the Silvestri craters.

 

Note: this tour is not suitable for passengers who experience mobility problems. In case of bad weather conditions the program of the tour will have an alternative routing that will be reconfirmed onboard. It is advisable to wear a wind cheater and comfortable shoes.

Price per person starting from: $ 63 Adults - $ 44 Children

 

Hope have been helfull, and don't hesitate, just ask....now to continue packing for a little(when compared to cruise on Splendida) 7 day break to Gozo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
pctravler

pctravler

Posted
Posted

I noticed on the MSC site they only show a few excursions. Is that because only a few are in English? In Marseille ,I wanted to see Arles but they do not offer a tour there. From what I have seen, all ports can be done on your own except Tunis. I am just afraid that on Sun, most things would be closed in Marsielles.

 

Thanks for all the great info. on Malta. I think I will try to get tickets to the Hypogeum. Since I want to have time to see the castle of the Knights of Malta.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
HATESCOOKING

HATESCOOKING

Posted
Posted

hi,

I've been reading your threads and your advice is really good. My friend and I are going on our first medit. cruise - leaving from NY flying Delta to Rome and starting the Splendida cruise to Genoa, Barcelona, Malta, Tunisia etc. and then staying on in Rome for 3 more days -could you please contact me directly with any advice- we are getting an outside cabin/ we speak a little Italian and Spanish.

thanks

Terry Welsh

hatescooking@gmail.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beauseant

Beauseant

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi again,

 

Just back from Gozo(Malta's sis island); 6 days sunshine+ last day(this morn) a rather stormy one.

 

Anyway, saw MSC Splendida cruising towards La Valletta this morning from my Gozo appartment's balcony. She's a big lady, watching her from about a 2 miles distance. I compared her with Costa Pacifica and NCL Gem (both ships visit Malta weekly too), and she dwarfs both of them (and is much prettier!).....cannot belive that a month has already passed from my cruise on her. Hope will re-visit her (or Fantasia/Magnifica) next March....but still have to choose between an MSC Cruise or a Nile cruise.

 

----------------------------------------------------------

 

Hello, Hatescooking.

 

If I may be of any help to you, just ask and will happily answer your questions here. But, if you (or anyone else) prefer info by email,it's ok.... just send here:

 

zaren178173@yahoo.com

 

Knowing Italian/Spanish helps very much if you do your own excursions in the Western Med area! Only problem with lingo might be Marseille. Maybe telling the frenchy taxi-man that your grandfather was a W.W.2 D-DAY vet, would get you a discount ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CRIB KIDS

CRIB KIDS

Posted
Posted

Hi Beauseant, I am glad that you had at least 6 days of sunshine.

I also saw Splendida on the webcam today, and I do agree that she is a Big Pretty Lady.

We are 6 cruisers who speak Italian and Spanish and would like to do our own excursions.

Do you suggest hiring a taxi for a few hours with the hopes that the driver can provide adequate information and take us to the highlights of the various ports we are visiting?

I would imagine that with a taxi, it would cost us only a fraction of what tours would cost.

What dod you think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beauseant

Beauseant

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi CRIB KIDS,

 

She's a big lady, but a pretty one, and moves gracefully too :)

Even a waterspout came to see her yesterday! (see my post before this)

 

As to taxis, I agree with you when in Barcelona. More and more if you know a little Spanish.You can visit many sites like this much quicker than using the red-blue hop-on buses.And they are metered.

 

For Rome, as it's some 50miles away from port of Civitavechia,think you could use train,or use the MSC coach that drops you near the Vatican, and picks you up later.(Rome is not that difficult for site seeing, with a little map and a good walking shoes). Don't know rates of taxis in Rome though.

 

Taxis in Malta are reasonable, and as English is our second language, it'll be easy to comunicate with taxi drivers too ( agree on fees before hand though!). Valletta is just a little hill climb away, so no taxis needed to go there.

 

But on the whole think that if you want to see many things in a short time, taxis are a good idea. Genoa taxi fees are expensive in my opinion (others said it's cheap though). Marseille....think its difficult to find a french taxi-driver to comunicate in English. Tunis....it's possible to find English speaking drivers here.

 

So, in Barcelona, I would suggest a go-round in a Taxi as it's cheap....and you speak Spanish. For Rome, using the train is worth it, but be carefull of train strikes!! Better play it safe and use the MSC Coach to Rome and back.For Malta, see in the begining of this post for taxi fees/etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beauseant

Beauseant

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Some more info about taxi fees in Rome, CRIB KIDS...

 

The meter starts at 2.33€($3). It adds 1.29€($1.70) for every kilometer (2⁄3 mile) if you’re moving at up to 20kmph (12 mph), and for every 85.3m (280 ft.) if you are going faster;this rate decreases within the urban limits (G.R.A. highway) to 0.78€($1) for every kilometer (2⁄3 mile).

 

At night

(10 p.m.–7 a.m.) you’ll have to pay a surcharge of 2.58€ ($3.40); on Sundays and holidays, it’s 1.03€ ($1.30).

 

The luggage supplement is 1.04€ ($1.30) for each bag larger

than 35 × 25 × 50cm (14 × 9.8 × 20 inches).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rothtdk1

rothtdk1

Posted
Posted

I posted a question similiar to this on another thread. I hope to get a few points of view. How are the rooms? Is it worth it to get a balcony? How is the food? Are there any movies aboard, other than 4D. What is TV like in the room are there lots of channels? Is there Wifi in the rooms? Since tipping is charged daily to your account I do not need to leave any envelopes on the bed when we leave, is that right? How is booking your own excursions or did you all? We are going on the 2-11-10 Splendida cruise to Med which includes Egypt and Israel. We are so excited!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beauseant

Beauseant

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi rothtdk1

 

So, let me remember.....

My room was Cabin 12074.This was situated on the Splendida’s right side/forward of deck 12(Ponte Chirico). That’s 2 decks under the “Bar delle Fontane” with is on the right-side of the forward pool (one with sliding sun-roof).Had 180 deg views from my cabin balcony...super views!

 

In this cabin we where 2 adults and 2 kids. Main bed was big and more than enough for wifey and me, and every night, we used to find the sofa-bed ready for the kids to sleep in. Sofa bed was spacey too, and 2 adults could fit in it. Go to this link and you’ll have a virtual view of MSC Fantasia (sister ship of Splendida).Check the cabin views there... they’re the same as Splendida’s.

 

http://www.msccruisesusa.com/virtual-tour/MSC-Fantasia/index.asp

 

The shower was a bit restricted in size, but if you close the sliding partition/curtain of this shower, it’ll be just fine. When you use towels, put them in the sink, and you’ll find clean ones in place next time you enter your cabin. In the shower there was bottled liquid soap and shampoo too. There was a retracabile cord in the shower to put on wet swim suits on it.Cabin crew kept our bathroom spotlessly clean...+ our cabin too of course was taken care of. Cabin crews used to clean our cabin at least twice daily.They earned their tips!

 

Anyway, there was a small wardrobe with some drawers, and was enough for all of our cloths. We used one of those portable shoe-racks too. Good for putting other things apart shoes, in it (like socks, hair bands/clips etc). There were some clothes hangers, but we brought some of ours too.

 

There was a safe in this wardrobe too. Once I couldn’t open it, and after a call to the reception, in no time at all, a guy came to our cabin armed with his laptop, and opened it for me. Found all crew very helpful and always trying to be of service.

 

The sofa-bed will be in closed position during the day, and in front of this sofa is a small table and a corner-unit with a little refrigerator in it. Did not touch anything from here (not free), but used to keep our bottles of wine+water in here. In this unit was also two 2 drawers with a hair-drier in it. On top of this corner-unit was an interactive-TV.

 

This TV did not have many channels though. Some Italian ones (like Rai1, 2, 3, Rete4, Canale 5, La7), CNN, and some other news channels. There were 3 live web cam views of the ship’s front sea-view, and of pool deck areas too. There was also a channel with a sort of positional map with the ship’s course/headings/speed etc. on it. Found this useful because used to know where we were when in the to balcony armed with my binoculars.... watching far off lights of cities/lands go by at night.

 

On this interactive TV, one can check his/her daily spending too....very useful too.

 

Was mentioning the balcony. This was my first cruise, so don’t know what it feels like to be in a room without a balcony or in a windowless one. Think will be very claustrophobic! But, having a private balcony, sitting there under the stars, hearing the sounds of the sea and waves going by, city lights on the horizon....a bottle of wine....plus watching the sun going up is a spectacle.

 

Some may say that they can go up on deck. At night or early morning hours, on deck it used to be very windy (ship sails fast at night) and deserted too, so cannot image me going up there. A balcony is a big asset. So, I will never book a cruise again WITHOUT a cabin! My opinion of course.

 

There’s was a computer connection in my room too (with payment of course) but I took a week off from the internet to be totally relaxed (not easy thing). There were some Wi-Fi points too, but again, you must pay for it.

 

There was no cinema on board....only a 4D cinema (did not impress me though).BTW, there was also pay per view movies on the interactive TV. If I’m not mistaken (cannot remember everything) it was around 10euros a movie.

 

About Food, in short (read what I wrote earlier before in this thread) it was of good quality and taste.

 

You will be charged for the tips on a daily basis and it’ll be added to your total expenditure. (wrote about this somewhere in this thread, but we paid 21 euro daily...2adults+2under18’s). So don’t leave money in envelopes when you leave.

 

About excursions, I did all on my own, but could have booked them from my local MSC travel agent before. The Western Mediterranean is easier for do-it-yourself excursions I think. As you are going to do the eastern Mediterranean (I think that will do that one in March next year) think that you’ll have to book some excursions before-hand or else from the ship on your embarkation day. For example Alexandria is a must see(Cairo Museum plus Pyramids) but is so far away from port that wouldn’t even dare think of a do-it-yourself here. (Muslim country too!).

 

At this moment in time, am 50-50 about what to do: that is, either the same cruise that you’re gonna do (eastern med)or else Cairo(pyramids ,sphinx etc) plus a Nile cruise.

 

You’ll love the Splendida! Still miss her.....

Hope answered some of your questions, and don’t worry....ask more if you wish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rothtdk1

rothtdk1

Posted
Posted

Thank you! You indeed did answer questions. We figured in Egypt would take the cruise tour as we no nothing about there other than watching the history channel. I had hoped someone would e going on this cruise the same time we go, but so far nobody has signed up on the roll call forum. The days at sea, were there special activities planned?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beauseant

Beauseant

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi jacobichka

 

Splendida docked in most western-side part of the commercial port in Marseille (Cap Janet and Leon Gourret Terminal). A bit too far to go by foot to the main city though, at about 4 miles. And think it's the same place you docked 3 years ago.Check Splendida's forward looking web cam when she's in Marseille(Sundays) to see area.

 

http://www.msccruisesusa.com/flotta/msc-web-cam

 

MSC had a shuttle bus (5euro each way) that drops passengers in Vieux Port (Marseille). Think that taxis are required to reach the main sites of the city and the major tourist sites.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beauseant

Beauseant

Posted
  • Author
Posted

It's my pleasure to be of some help to other fellow cruisers....I'll read your reviews too, after your cruise for sure hehee!!

 

About daily activity in port/ at sea. Every night, you'll find a sort of newspaper will all the info you'll need for the next day's activities like:excursion bookings and info/ restaurant-lounges-bars opening times/sports activity / Super Bingo/MSC Spa special offers etc. There's also a kid's club +a teen's club. All jaguzzi tabs are heated and so is the front sun-roofed pool. If you like gym work (aerobic or machines) there's a gym too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...